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Well...it aint just an indictment now. But on the other hand...let's see, fine this guy $50,000, but he grosses $130,000. $80,000 net...and a little jail time...not bad...not bad at all. Hey, but it aint about the money...it's about protecting Americans...taking care of us...aint it????? Yeah right, to make sure we spend our money on fools like this. Thanks again, Big Pharma and BushCo. Mike DuPree http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/101706B.shtml Ex-FDA Chief Crawford to Plead Guilty to US
Charges Monday 16 October 2006 Lester Crawford, the former commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, will plead guilty to federal charges of failing to disclose owning shares in companies regulated by the agency, his attorney said. Prosecutors charged Crawford, 68, with filing a false document and violating federal conflict-of-interest laws. Crawford may face as much as six months of jail or house arrest and a fine of $50,000, said his lawyer, Barbara Van Gelder, in a phone interview today. Government investigators have been probing Crawford's financial dealings since he stepped down as FDA commissioner in September 2005, two months after his Senate confirmation. He stated in 2004 that shares of Sysco Corp. and Kimberly-Clark Corp. had been sold when he and his wife continued to hold them, and he failed to disclose income from Embrex Inc. stock options, U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Taylor said in a court filing. "Crawford did not disclose his income from the Nov. 14, 2004, exercise of Embrex stock options" or the Kimberly-Clark and Sysco stock, Taylor said in the charging document. Crawford and his wife earned more than $130,000 from the investments that year, he said. Channing Phillips, spokesman for Taylor, declined to comment. Crawford didn't return a phone message left at Policy Directions Inc., a Washington lobbying firm where he works as senior counsel. "Errors and Omissions" The former drug regulator didn't intentionally mislead anyone, Van Gelder said. Crawford made "errors and omissions" in his disclosures, she said. She said federal disclosure forms are "very confusing" and cited "some issues with changing financial advisers." "It happened, and it happened on his watch, and he will take responsibility," Van Gelder said. Crawford, who was acting or deputy FDA commissioner for more than three years, also served as chairman of the FDA's Obesity Working Group in 2003 and 2004 while owning shares of Sysco, a distributor of snack foods, and Pepsico Inc., the world's second- biggest soft drink maker, according to court papers. The panel was formed to study the link between weight and health. The panel's report recommended giving calorie content greater prominence on food and beverage labels, provided guidance on labeling the carbohydrate content in foods and urged the restaurant industry to provide more nutrition information to consumers. During his time on the panel, Crawford and his wife owned 1,400 shares of Pepsico and 2,500 shares of Sysco, according to the federal charging document. "Should Have Known" "If anyone should have known the rules, he should have," said Carl Tobias, a professor of law at the University of Richmond in Virginia. "He's not the typical appointee. He'd been at the agency a long time." Crawford declared in January 2002 that he and his wife owned stock in 12 "significantly regulated" organizations: Drugmakers Abbott Laboratories, American Home Products, Pfizer Inc. and Merck & Co.; medical device makers Boston Scientific Corp., Medtronic Inc. and Johnson & Johnson; consumer health products maker Kimberly-Clark; Merrill Lynch Biotech Holdings; Pepsico; Sysco; and testing equipment maker Waters Corp., the document said. He was advised by an HHS ethics official to sell all of them, court records show. "Crawford and his wife subsequently sold all their shares in all these entities, with the exception of Kimberly-Clark, Pepsico and Sysco," Taylor said. Embrex Options Crawford also exercised options in Durham, North Carolina- based Embrex, a maker of products to deliver biotechnology drugs, in 2003 and 2004, according to the charging document. Crawford obtained the options while on the Embrex board, before joining the FDA, according to prosecutors. President George W. Bush nominated Crawford to become FDA Commissioner in February 2005. Crawford, from Demopolis, Alabama, holds a doctorate in veterinary medicine from Auburn University in Alabama. He also has a doctorate in pharmacology from the University of Georgia. Crawford ran the FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine from 1978 to 1980 and from 1982 to 1985, taking time out to serve as head of the department of physiology-pharmacology at the University of Georgia's College of Veterinary Medicine. He then served as the administrator of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's food safety and inspection service from 1987 to 1991 before taking a job as the chief science officer at a trade group, the National Food Processors Association. The case is U.S. v. Crawford, 06-438, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia (Washington).
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